1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle suspension for preventing the vehicle from diving at its front end or from rising at its rear end when the vehicle is abruptly braked.
2. Description of Relevant Art
Front and rear wheels of vehicles are normally suspended from the vehicle chassis by means of shock absorbers. When the vehicle is braked suddenly, the vehicle tends to excessively dive at its front end and to rise at its rear end. Various proposals have heretofore been made to prevent such diving and rising of the vehicle. For example, suspensions of the wishbone type have been proposed which have an arm with its axis of pivot inclined in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
When relatively rigid shock absorbers are utilized to protect against the aforesaid excessive diving and rising, the riding comfort of the passengers will be sacrificed. Therefore, attempts to prevent vehicle diving rising normally run counter to efforts to improve riding comfort of the passengers.
In FIG. 8 of the accompanying drawings, a front-wheel suspension of the "MacPherson" type is shown, which includes a shock absorber having an upper end supported on spring-supported parts 2 and a lower end connected to a front wheel 3 through a knuckle. The shock absorber 1 is also supported on a chassis portion 2a by a lower arm 4 and on a chassis portion 2b by a radius rod 5 which extends forwardly. With such an arrangement, it is known that by reducing the distance H between the ground 41 and a pivot point 5a at which the radius rod 5 is pivotally supported on the chassis portion 2b, the position of a point d around which the suspension is angularly movable up and down is raised. Consequently, the angle .theta. formed between the ground 41 and a line extending between the point d and a point 40 of contact of the wheel with the ground, is increased, thereby dampening excessive diving and rising of the vehicle. However, from the standpoint of arrangement of parts or layout, it is impossible to minimize the distance H in order to make the angle .theta. larger because reduction of the distance H beyond a particular limitation will cause interference between the radius rod or other parts therearound and obstructions on the road upon which the vehicle is driven. Accordingly, effective prevention of excessive vehicle diving has not been realized with conventional front-wheel suspension arrangements. With regard to rear-wheel suspension, elevating the position of a pivot for a rod is effective to prevent excessive vehicle rising at the rear end, but the extent of effectiveness thereof is limited due to interference with the spring supported parts of the vehicle.
The present invention effectively solves the above-described problems of vehicle diving and rising when the vehicle is braked suddenly, and the problems associated with vehicle suspensions having rods.